NEW DELHI, June 27:
An Enforcement Directorate (ED) team today questioned senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel at his residence in Delhi in connection with the Sandesara brothers money laundering case, officials said.
They said a three-member team reached Patel’s home at 23, Mother Teresa Crescent in the Lutyens zone of central Delhi around 11.30 am.
The team members were seen carrying files and wearing masks and gloves as precautionary measures against Coronavirus spread.
Patel’s statement is being recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the politicians’ purported links with the Sandesara brothers are under the scanner, they said.
The ED had summoned Patel, 70, twice for questioning in the case but the Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat later cited prevailing COVID-19 guidelines that advises senior citizens to stay indoors in order to remain safe from the pandemic.
The agency then assured the Congress party treasurer that all care will be taken while he is questioned at its office but it was pointed out by his legal team that there are media reports about Coronavirus cases being found in the ED Headquarters too.
The agency then told him that they are willing to visit his home as taking the probe forward in the case was important.
Subsequently, the time for home visit was fixed and the agency informed Patel that they will send the investigating officer of the case to him for questioning.
Patel has earlier been the political secretary to UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and considered one of the most powerful persons in the grand old party.
This money laundering case pertains to the alleged Rs 14,500 crore bank loan fraud that is said to have been perpetrated by the Vadodara-based pharma firm Sterling Biotech and its main promoters — Nitin Sandesara, Chetan Sandesara and Deepti Sandesara — all of whom are absconding.
The agency has said that this is a bigger bank scam in volume than the PNB fraud involving diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.
The total fraud amount pegged in the PNB case is about Rs 13,400 crore.(PTI)
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